Rose parade

Sorry for two garden posts in a row, but it’s a long, lazy weekend here (Canada Day is tomorrow), so I’m sure you won’t mind.

If you’ve been around the blog for any period of time, you’ll know first and foremost, I love my roses. At the old townhouse, I had crazy wild shrub roses that I had to wrangle and hack back every year (planted by some long-previous tenant). They were beautiful, but they took up the whole front and I had no room for anything else. When we moved here five years ago, I was thrilled to have a clean slate to work with. One of the first things I did was buy some roses.

White roses are my absolute favourite and White Lightning was the very first rose I bought. Sadly, that first plant only last one year, so I was thrilled to bits to find it at the centre again this year. It’s in a different spot, where hopefully it will fare better. So far the blooms are beautiful. I wish you could smell through the computer, because this one is amazing!

Next is Apollo. She was bought two years ago at a clearance sale. I didn’t have a car at the time, but I managed to bring her and another rose, as well as some large day lilies back home on the bus in my garden cart. It was quite the adventure that makes me doubly glad I have Dory now! As you can see, she’s a creamy yellow that’s just so soft and sweet. Sadly, her scent isn’t strong, but she makes up for it with beautiful blooms.

Scentimental was bought last year to replace Tournament of Roses (which had been bought with the 1st White Lightning, but died last year). I’ll admit, I was swayed by the pictures on the tag, showing scads of beautiful striped blooms. Sadly, this has not been the case for me so far. The first year, I only got two or three blooms and they were small and faded quickly (they seemed to only last a day.). This year, they are a bit bigger, but they still bloom and fade so quick. And despite the name, they don’t seem to have much smell. This one has been a bit of a disappointment, but I’ll keep nurturing it as long as it wants to grow.

Also added last year, was Ebb Tide. I’d been coveting it for a few years because of pictures of it’s dark purple blooms. I had already bought my roses for the year (Scentimental and Home and Family) when I spied it at the Garden Centre near Mom’s. I had to have it. This year it’s doing well. The blooms start as a dark burgundy, and as they open, they take on more of a rich purple. You may recall that about this time last year, the blooms on it turned bright pink. Well, I’ve been doing some research since then, and it appears as the weather gets hotter, the colour changes on this one. We’ve had such a cool spring that so far they are still nice and dark. But the heat and humidity has rolled in, so we’ll have to wait and see if they change.

And here’s a new one for this year – Honey Perfume! I wasn’t really planning on buying any roses this year. But then I saw White Lightning, and right beside it was this beauty. I was intrigued by the name ( I love roses with strong scents). And just look at that colour – they describe it as apricot, and it really is a gorgeous golden peachy orange. The scent isn’t quite as strong as White Lightning, but it is lovely. I really hope this one does well!

This dark beauty is Navy Lady. I bought it on clearance several years back, because of it’s colour and history. It’s my only shrub rose (the rest being Hybrid Tea, Floribunda or Grandiflora roses). It’s doing amazing this year and will soon be covered in dark red blooms.

And you all know my amazing Chicago Peace rose. It’s probably my most successful, and now oldest surviving rose. I chopped her right back this year so she’s a little slow to bloom, but the buds are there. She’s a Hybrid Tea and the blooms are HUGE on this one. Her colours range from bright pink to coral to soft yellow and all shades in between. Each bloom is a unique blend. She also blooms right through to October. She’s a bit of a show off and I love her!

Crimson Glory was bought at Walmart of all places, though she’s done fairly well. She was slow to start the first few years, not usually getting blooms until late summer. Though this year, she’s blooming right along with the other and looking fine. She’s just a nice, simple red tea rose. Nothing complicated!

There’s still to roses yet to bloom – Blue Girl, which is usually the first, and Home and Family, the white one I bought last year (because I couldn’t find White Lightning). They both have buds though, so it won’t be long.

We started with two this year and I’ll be honest ……..they aren’t doing all that great. I don’t know if they came home with bugs, but SOMETHING ate holes in all the leaves. We treated them and the new growth looks good, but there are no flowers yet. 😦

Your roses are just beautiful! I knew you had quite a few but until this post with all of them photographed, I didn’t realize how extensive your collection was. It must smell heavenly when you walk near the ones with a strong fragrance. Guaranteed to make you smile.